


Not a Better Nurse

by quirkthescribbler



Category: Game Grumps
Genre: Developing Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-12
Updated: 2016-04-12
Packaged: 2018-06-01 18:38:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6531478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quirkthescribbler/pseuds/quirkthescribbler
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>If Dan is spending his free time taking care of you while you're sick, surely that means you're more than just a friend-with-benefits, right?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not a Better Nurse

You woke up to your body aching just as the sun began to rise for the day.  Most people would be waking soon, getting ready for the day and heading out the door.  That would normally be you too - but not today.

Yesterday you had gotten horribly ill at work.  Ill enough to go home early.  Ill enough to go to the doctor right away.  Ill enough for her to give you some strong penicillin and tell you not to go back to work for at least two days.  Ill enough that when you called Dan and told him he dropped everything to come take care of you, even though he shouldn’t have.

He had been waiting on your hand and foot all the previous day.  Getting you water when you asked, making sure you were eating, asking if you needed anything, even holding your hair while you were heaving over the toilet.  He was going above and beyond the expected behavior of any friend (with or without benefits) and you were incredibly grateful.

You looked over to him, lightly snoring on the other side of the bed.  He had only stayed over a few times before now - those nights a _lot_ more fun than last.   But your relationship was still so new,  and he had done so much… _god_ you felt so lucky to have him in your life.

You carefully slid off the bed and padded quietly to your dresser, pulling out some fresh clothes, then heading down the hall to the bathroom.  You figured a long hot bath would be a good start to easing the aches in your body.  Besides, you still felt gross from the night before.  You started the water, filling up the tub, and then slowly eased yourself down into the warm bath.

You closed your eyes, remembering the night before.

_You retched horribly over the toilet, familiar hands holding your hair off of your neck and out of the way.  When your body stopped, you laid your forehead on your arm rested around the toilet.  “You really don’t have to do that,” you managed to say._

_“Shh, (Y/N),  shh,” Dan responded, his free hand rubbing your back gently.  “This is all boyfriend protocol.”_

_Your brow furrowed as that small part of your brain that wasn’t overcome with pain tried to figure out what he had just said.  “Is that what you are?  My boyfriend?”_

_His hand stopped rubbing, but stayed on your back nonetheless.  “Do you not want me to be?”_

_Your stomach started rolling and you retched again.  When you thought it had stopped, you quipped out, “That wasn’t an answer to your question, just so you know.”_

_He chuckled.  “You know, we should probably talk about this when you’re feeling better and not throwing your guts up.”_

_You gave him a thumbs up.  “Fair enough.”_

You opened your eyes.  Was he your boyfriend?  Was that what you wanted?  A few dates had turned into seeing each other a few times a week, which had led to a few sleepovers.  But you hadn’t really talked about it, hadn’t assigned labels to it.  Maybe he wanted to be exclusive now… but were you not before?  It wasn't like you had been seeing anyone else.  Something like this at least warranted a conversation though, right?

You brought your hand up to your forehead and sighed.  Relationships were hard, and you were rusty.

You heard and knock on the door.  “Yes?”  Dan’s muffled voice barely carried through the door.  “I can’t hear you - just stick your head in.”

The door opened a bit.  “You sure?” You gave an ‘mmhmm’ in reassurance as you folded your arms over your chest and crossed your legs slightly.  From the door he could probably see all of you - and it not like it was anything he hadn’t seen before - but you felt better slightly covering yourself.  His bushy hair was the first thing you saw when he leaned in the doorway, but soon his eyes found yours.  “Hey,” he said, his voice soft like the smile on his face.  “How are you feeling?”

You gave a small smile back.  “Better.  'M not nauseated, and I think my fever has gone down.  But I’m still pretty achey, and I just feel nasty from last night.”

He nodded.  “I get that.  Take your time in that bath.  What do you need from me?  Think you can stomach some breakfast?”

You thought for a moment.  “Maybe some oatmeal with just a little bit of cinnamon and sugar?” Not your first choice, but it would be easy on your stomach.  “And some ginger tea, with honey, please?”

A smile graced his lips.  “As you wish.”  He disappeared and closed the door and suddenly you noticed the blush in your cheeks.  He had just knowingly quoted _The Princess Bride,_  one of your favorite movies, back to you. _Wow,_ he was the sweetest.  You felt another rush of gratitude as you let yourself sink further under the water.  If he wanted to put a label on whatever all this was you weren’t gonna say no.  He made you happy.  He took care of you.  He made you laugh, cared about your interests, and hell, he _knew_ what to do in bed.  He was… _wonderful,_ and you’d do anything to keep him around as long as you could.

You took your time washing up but soon found yourself draining the tub and standing up slowly.  You toweled off quickly, shivering as you donned underwear, bra, sweatpants and a tank top.  You towel dried your hair, running a comb through it and shaking your head to rid it of the excess water.  Walking out of the bathroom, you made your way to the kitchen where Dan was making breakfast.  

“Hey babe,” he began with a smile upon seeing you.  “You’re walking around and are considerably less green, that’s good.”

You smirked, running your hands through your wet hair.  “It’s not easy being green,” you chuckled out.

Dan giggled.  “Well, last night was a testament to that,” he replied.  “Here,” he said, placing the oatmeal and tea he had made for you at the two-person table.  “You need to eat and get your strength back.”

You sat at the table with Dan joining you, toast and coffee in hand for himself.  “Thank you for taking care of me,” you said quietly.  He was taking such good care of you, even now… even now when - what time was it?  You looked at the clock in your kitchen.  9:56 am.  “Uh, Dan, aren’t you supposed to be in the studio by now?”

He took a bite of toast and washed it down with a swig of coffee before answering.  “I called out today.  Arin was super understanding, it’s cool.”

You felt yourself gaping slightly but you couldn’t school your expression fast enough.  “You _really_ don’t have to do that,” you repeated from last night, voice just above a whisper.  

Dan’s brow furrowed in worry.  “Do you… not _want_ me to take care of you?”  He ran a hand through his hair nervously.  “I mean, I know we haven’t had the relationship talk yet and we touched on it last night, but I just thought--”

You reached over to hold his hand in yours.  “It’s not that I don’t want you to take care of me.  But we should talk about us - more than just touch on it.”

He nodded, a small smile finding his lips, and you instantly felt relieved.  “I agree.  But first-” he pointed to you, then to the bowl in front of you, “-eat.  We’re both not going anywhere, and the food that I _slaved_ over is going cold.”

You couldn’t suppress the giggle that rose up, so you occupied yourself with breakfast instead of protesting any more.  The oatmeal was bland, but that was kind of the point.  It was as good as it could be, and even though it sounded cheesy and silly, you bet it was better than you could have made it simply because Dan cared enough to make it for you.   _Ugh,_ what was this guy turning you into?  Some sappy love-sick girl?  This was the worst (and you loved every second of it).

You finished your oatmeal just as Dan drank the last bit of coffee. He took your bowl, earning another “thanks” from you, and put them in the sink.  You reached for your tea, still hot, and made your way over to the sofa in the living room.  He joined you with another cup of coffee on the couch, heaving a sigh.  “Relationship talk time, right?”

Truth was, you were nervous.  You didn’t know why - you had already made up your mind on what you were going to say, and all of his actions pointed to something more exclusive anyway.  So why the nerves?  You nodded to him, internally chanting _“chill out”_ to your nerves and hoping it would help.

“Okay,” he started, taking a breath and putting his coffee cup on the side table.  “I’m just gonna put all my cards on the table, because that’s just how I do these talks.”  He laced his fingers together, stretching his hands before shaking them out nervously.  “Okay.  So it’s been a month… and we’ve spent a lot of time together.  And… I really like spending my time with you.  Even when you’re sick, because I like taking care of you.”  You felt your face getting hot and it had nothing to do with the fever.  “You make me laugh, and we have _really_ fuckin’ interesting conversations, and - I mean, let’s face it - the sex is awesome.”  

You both giggled nervously.  You pulled your legs under you, resting your chin on your knees.  Taking compliments was hard for you, but you were working on it.  You cocked your head to the side as your laughter died down; Dan’s cheeks were pink too.  Good to know you weren’t the only one a little flustered by this conversation.

“All this to say,” Dan continued, “I… really like you.  Like a lot.  And I’d really like to make this exclusive.  If you want.”

You couldn’t stop the smile from blooming over your features.  Dan was everything you thought you would never have, and even though there was still a lot to discover and explore about each other - especially how you worked together - the prospect excited you.

You folded your legs under you and smirked.  “Hmm,” you prodded playfully, “I wonder what I’ll have to tell my other three boyfriends…”

Dan furrowed his brow again but he still smiled, and you laughed at his expression.  “I’m kidding!”  When your laughter died down, you continued, “I’d really like that.  To be exclusive.  I like you a lot too.”

The smile that came over Dan’s featured could have cured any vestige of illness still left within you.  He reached forward and laced his fingers with yours, locking eyes with you again.  “I really want to kiss you.”

You sighed.  “Put a pin in it and we’ll come back to it in a couple of days when we’re certain that whatever I had won’t get you sick too.”

“In a few days when you’re better we’ll celebrate _properly,”_ he rebutted, wiggling his eyebrows in a lewd manner.  You rolled your eyes and laughed.  “But,” he cut in, “in the meantime…”

He cupped your right cheek in his hand and pulled your head gently downward so he could plant a kiss on your forehead.  You felt yourself blushing again.  “Feels like someone’s fever is coming back,” he said playfully.

You placed a hand on his chest and pushed him back.  “That’s not the fever and you _know_ it.”  Your sassiness was coming back.  Good.

“Soooo,” Dan transitioned, “if we can’t have fun the way we would _prefer,”_ again, with that cocky lascivious tone, “what _should_ we do?”

You smiled genuinely.  “Well, I was thinking that maybe we could watch a movie.”

“Okay, what movie did you have in mind?”

“What about _The Last Unicorn?”_ Sparks lit in Dan’s eyes.  “I think I remember a certain boyfriend of mine saying it was his favorite?”

His smile at the new title warmed you.  “You remember correctly,” he said as you turned on the TV and brought up _Netflix._ “Are you sure you wanna subject yourself to this?  I’m gonna be singing along and obnoxiously quoting it the whole time…”

A giggle escaped you as you placed a pillow on his legs and settled down to lay on the couch, head in his lap.  “Of course I want to do this.  It’s your favorite,” you looked up at him, eyes meeting, “and I love seeing the joy it gives you.”

He giggled.  “Well, you can’t say I didn’t warn you.”

You turned on your side to face the television.  “No warning needed.”

You queued up the movie, and as it began Dan’s hand found it’s way to your hair, gently combing his fingers through.  You grabbed his other hand, lacing fingers together again.

You could _easily_ get used to this… especially once you were better and could add kissing and sex back into the mix.  
  
You couldn’t _wait._

**Author's Note:**

> Not sure how I feel about how this one turned out. The idea came to me when I was sick all of last week with mono, and it's been written really sporadically (sometimes in a pharmaceutical-drug-induced haze). But the idea wouldn't leave me alone and I had to get it out.
> 
> Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed!


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